Every morning this week, the same squirrel has taken up residence on the kitchen windowsill to eat for anything up to four hours at a time.
She’s also devised the ’squirrel shuffle’ – a move that takes her from the bucket feeder to across the sill where she exits…
Duration : 0:4:44
I made this for my friend Charlene (LeenyChan on youtube). It is a version of the story Rapunzel that I wrote. Yes, I know the drawings are completely terrible.
WHAT THE TEXT OF THE VIDEO SAYS (I know it is hard to read, even in full screen mode):
Once upon a time, there lived a husband and a wife who lived in a cottage near the woods.
One day, the wife fell very ill. She believed the only thing that could cure her was a strange herb that grew in the garden next to their cottage. She begged her husband to retrieve it for her. The herb was called rapunzel.
The garden belonged to a witch who used the herbs for her spells.
The witch soon caught the husband trying to sneak into her precious garden. She let him take the rapunzel in exchange of a promise; the husband would give the witch his first born child. He took the herb back to his wife and her illness was indeed cured.
A year later, they had a baby girl whom the witch took away as soon as she was born.
The couple was able to see their daughter from the garden. They watched their daughter grow into a beautiful young woman with long, golden hair. The witch decided to name her Rapunzel.
Fear of Rapunzel running away, the witch locked her up in a tower when she was 12 years old.
Wishing she could play in the garden again, sighing knowing that she couldn’t, Rapunzel would sing to cheer herself up.
One day, the king’s son was riding in the forest when he was suddenly drawn to a beautiful voice singing loud and clear.
He watched as the witch came down the tower’s bottom, calling out “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your long hair.” The prince watched in amazement as the witch climbed up the hair and into the tower. He decided he would soon try this.
While Rapunzel was sitting at the window sill, she noticed a black figure moving in the garden. She shouted, “Who goes there?” The black figure turned around, and she saw the face of a beastly creature. As appalled as she knew she should have been, the eyes of the creature held a deep intensity that she could not ignore. The creature turned around and walked off into the distance.
The next day when Rapunzel heard, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your long hair,” she put her hair out of the window and expected to see the witch. Instead, it was the handsome prince that had climbed up. The prince has brought her flowers, falling instantly in love with Rapunzel. However, Rapunzel was searching in his eyes for that intensity she saw in the creature. Not finding it, she did not gain much of an interest in the prince. At his request for a kiss, she rejected him and told him to leave the tower.
The next day, the creature sat in the garden again, hoping to catch a glimpse of Rapunzel. Soon, he heard the angelic voice sing. He had been coming to the garden for weeks, watching and listening to Rapunzel. He decided to finally talk with her.
Standing below the window, the creature shouted, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your long hair.” At his arrival into the tower, Rapunzel smiled. The creature smiled back.
Instead of speaking to her, the creature reached into his pocket and handed her a wooden box. Rapunzel’s eyes grew wide at the box’s content. Inside the box, there laid an actual heart, still warm as if freshly taken.
The creature explained that where he comes from, offering the heart of another being was a ritual performed when you wish to give your heart to the one you love. Rapunzel smiled. Looking into the creature’s eyes, she said, “I love you, too.”
The creature whistled, and a giant creature that resmebled a flying, fat horse came to the window of the tower.
Before leaving with the creature, Rapunzel tore the prince’s flowers up, proclaiming that he was unoriginal.
Rapunzel and the creature rode off, living happily ever after.
Duration : 0:8:32
lamps that you can set on your windowsill during the day to charge them and then use in your home in the evening? I know they make garden lights, but it seems this same technology would work for interior lamps as well.
You could certainly use a solar-charged light indoors BUT you would have to make sure it got enough direct solar input to charge the battery. The problem with having the light indoors would be that most windows in a house don’t get enough direct sunlight for a long enough time period to maximize battery life. I do have a portable patio lantern that charges via a solar collector. I can bring it inside and use it but I would have to place it back outdoors to recharge it. Maybe if you had a greenhouse or other indoor area that got enough light all day you could recharge indoors.
What you can do is get a remote solar panel (look in catalogs like www.realgoods.com) and mount it outdoors with a wire running indoors to charge a light inside.
One drawback is that most of the solar lights using current technologies only put out a somewhat low light level for a short period (4 to 6 hours). Moat that I have seen would not be bright enough for reading or to light a whole kitchen.
It’s a good idea, overall, and I think you will eventually see lights of this type widely available as technology improves.
Peter Gabriel’s amazing live performance of his song “Lay Your Hands On Me,” from the album “Security”. (1982)
Lyrics:
Sat in the corner of the Garden Grill,
With plastic flowers on the window sill
No more miracles, loaves and fishes,
Been so busy with the washing of the dishes
Reaction level’s much too high – I can do without the stimuli
I’m living way beyond my ways and means,
Living in the zone of the in-betweens
I can see the flashes on the frozen ocean,
Static charge of the cold emotion
Watched on by the distant eyes
Watched on by the silent hidden spies
But still the warmth flows through me
And I sense you know me well
No luck, no golden chances
No mitigating circumstances now
It’s only common sense
There are no accidents around here
I am willing – lay your hands on me
I am ready – lay your hands on me
I believe – lay your hands on me, over me
Working in gardens, thornless roses,
Fat men play with their garden hoses
Poolside laughter has a cynical bite,
Sausage speared by the tail satellite
I walk away from light and sound,
Down stairways leading underground
But still the warmth flows through me
And I sense you know me well
It’s only common sense
There are no accidents around here
Duration : 0:8:2
whoever loses goes over the window and into my garden
Duration : 0:0:41
I am trying to get a nice indoor windowsill garden going, but have a very tight budget. So I’ve been saving used gallon milk jugs and Era clothes detergent containers to fashion into my ‘pots’.
The problem is, these containers are very ugly. I’ve tried painting them with some basic craft paint I have, but it rubs right off after it dries and makes a big mess.
Any ideas on how I can decorate these plastic containers to look less cheap, classy not gaudy, and easy to do at home?
How about this: Buy a roll of wide ribbon (3 or 4 inches wide) and folding it over the edge adhering it with a glue gun. You can get inexpensive ribbon "on sale" at any fabric or crafts store. The variety is endless. I really like this idea and might try it myself!
Squirrels are really messy eaters.. so, the crumbs they leave behind, our bluetits appreciate with relish. Thing is, the bluetits are getting really cheeky and now will land and feed on the windowsill regardless of events inside the kitchen (such as: me filming events on the windowsill!)
I have it so everyone here in my garden is happy 
Full tums aplenty!
Duration : 0:0:34
So far I’ve seen a few of them in my home. All but one where in the bathroom, the other was on the kitchen counter (EEEEEK) I can handle finding a few bugs on the bathroom floor every once in a while, but NOT on my kitchen counter!!!
I have tired looking at many on-line sites that identify insects but I haven’t seen this one on any of them. When I do generalized searches it keeps bringing up silverfish, and that is NOT what they are.
I keep all food in tight containers. All sugar, Flour, breads and like items are kept in the fridge. My kitties and ratties food are stored in "insect proof" containers (they even said that on the containers when I bought them). My kittie’s food dish is the raised kind thats up off the floor and the legs are all coated in slippery stuff so a bug can’t climb up it if it tried. My ratties food dish in her cage is at least 5′5 of the floor (the top of the dish is above my head)… her cage itself is over 3 feet tall and made of wire (bars) and is sitting on top of a stand so I doubt a bug could make it to the dish. We are forever cleaning in our home and I spray the outside of the windowsills and doorways with outdoor insect spray (its meant for gardens, fruit/veggie crops.. I didn’t want something extremely toxic, even though all bug killers are toxic obviously) about once a month, or more if we get a heavy rain. This is mostly just because red mites love my building. I also use a few "home remedies" around the house to try and deter bugs from coming in/staying here (no clue if they work or not but heck I’ll try just about anything.
So needless to say I don’t like insects in my home, and do anything I can to keep em out.
PLEASE help me figure out what these insects are so that I know what I need to do to keep them from wanting to come in and how to go about getting rid of them. Thank you for any help you can give!!!
* It is about the length of a pencil eraser.
* Its black metallic looking.
* No wings.
* No antenna from what I can see.
* No visable legs, even though I’m sure they have them
* Pretty thin in width, but slightly tapered from one end to the other.
* Moves fast and in random ways, like it will be going one way and then it looks like it almost just bends over itself or something and goes the other way (very fast). I almost want to say it looks like it is swimming but without the water.
I have no clue what a forestry station is, but I’m pretty sure there are none around here.
Oh and I’m in New York if that helps any (not NYC).
Thanks for the pictures, but nope none of them.
If it wasn’t for the fact that I’m not the only one who has seen them I would think its all just in my head. No one knows what they are, even the bug killing places around me have no clue. I’m going to need to *glup* catch one in order for anyone to be able to help me.
maybe a black species of one of these?
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=click+beetle+larvae&fr=my-myy&toggle=1&cop=&ei=UTF-8
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0WTefRGckpK1C0AJ4yJzbkF?p=wireworms&fr=my-myy&ei=utf-8&x=wrt&y=Search
It’s Wednesday, it’s raining, so that must mean there’s a squirrel on the windowsill.. and yup… there he is!
Hello Little Boy!
Duration : 0:4:11
My mother and I have recently gotten into birdwatching and gardening, and I would like to know what birdhouses are for. Do birds build nests in them? Also, what can I put on my windowsill to attract birds?
Oh, and if anyone has a list of the birds found in Southern California, that would be really great, thanks. 
Ooh! And also, does a birdbath have to be shallow? My mom bought one that kinda resembles a flowerpot. Will this work? She claims to have seen some birds use it.
Ah, and do coyotes eat birds? We have a LOT where I live. I’ve seen a couple right next to my front door! My friend lives next door, and he has a cat. Is it OK to put bird feeders in the trees?
We have like, 5 birdfeeders in my tree x]
Thank you all, we have now put rocks in the birdbath.
Yes, the bird bath has to be shallow. I use a large terra cotta saucer and put some small rocks it it. The birds can drown in deep water.
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